Techniques are disclosed for reliably masking speech commands directed to one or more computing devices to prevent the speech commands from being rendered. In some embodiments, each of the one or more computing devices includes components configured to generate acoustic data from ambient sound waves, process the acoustic data to identify a speech command sequence, and mask the speech command sequence from being rendered. At least some of the systems and methods disclosed herein monitor inbound audio at a fine grain level of detail. Working at this level of granularity enables the system and methods described herein to detect potential speech commands early within the user's utterance thereof and to discriminate quickly between true speech commands and other user utterances. These early detection and discrimination features, in turn, enable some embodiments to manage potential communication disruptions (e.g., jitter and/or latency) by modifying rates of audio prior to rendering.